‘I want to make Jamaica proud,’ — Tuffy
PANAMA CITY, Panama — There is no stopping Jermaine ‘Tuffy’ Anderson, it seems.
He was the footballer who Jamaican fans staged multiple protests at different points across the island, as they tried to force the hand of then head coach Theodore ‘Tappa’ Whitmore to select him for the ongoing CONCACAF World Cup qualifying campaign.
Despite the pressure, Whitmore, a hero of Jamaica’s football, did not budge even as the Reggae Boyz campaign spiralled down.
In Whitmore’s eyes, ‘Tuffy’ was just not his man despite the latter holding the honour of being the top striker in the land.
But Anderson was determined to play for his country again after being snubbed following his participation in the Caribbean Cup in Antigua and Barbuda, last December.
With the arrival of a new coach Winfried Schafer after Whitmore quit, things started to look up for the Waterhouse frontman and crowd favourite.
“That’s how life goes, maybe that coach (Whitmore) just didn’t feel he wanted me in his team, but this coach comes and sees something in me and he has given me some good vibes so far… and I have been working hard in training, and not because I am 34, I give my best and I have been running hard. Right now I just want to go out there and just do my best and make Jamaica proud of me,” Anderson told the Jamaica Observer during an interview aboard a charter that took the Boyz here for their World Cup qualifier against hosts Panama.
Anderson, who has been in and out of the Jamaica set-up but still waiting for that moment to make his mark, says he is eager to make the best of this chance at redemption.
“I have always wanted to do good things for my country, as country comes first, so really and truly I want to be out there. It’s not so much that people were crying for me, it’s more that those people saw what ‘Tuffy’ can do for the country.
“But now that I get another look in with the team, I am just going to be focused and do my best for my country, whether I get five minutes or 10 minutes on the field,” said the irrepressible Montego Bay native.
He spoke of Jamaica’s do-or-die matchup against Panama tonight in a manner and tone as if he expects to get a chance to play. But that’s ‘Tuffy’, always eager to have a go for either club or country.
“This game against Panama is going to be a hard fight for Jamaica. And in training today (yesterday), I would really like to talk to the players because so far I have been getting a nice vibe and we now need this Jamaican team to go out there and give 110 per cent… but we are Jamaicans and we know what we can do and we have to just go out there and fight,” he said.
